By Kyle Agano

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have resorted to online shopping to avoid potentially catching the virus. But what about people working at Amazon? They have found an increase in sales. Amazon claims that they have made “prevention measures into order.” This vague claim can be implicated as anything. So what are the staff actually experiencing at Amazon? And what are the opinions of the people working there?

The working conditions and employee reaction.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon was well-known for its convenience and fast shipping with Amazon Prime. But to achieve that there must be extremely adequate efficiency in its workspace. So, Amazon workers were pressured to work with no bathroom breaks and extremely short lunch breaks. This might seem bad but when the pandemic struck, their workers were placed in an even more stressful situation than ever imagined. Although Amazon created “prevention measures,” they were never enforced nor openly available to the public. All we see in our eyes are people who work there in commercials, and these commercials are almost always curated to match what the company wants us to see. So this brings us to: what do the employees want to keep them safe? All the employees are asking for is hazard pay, medical payment if infected with COVID-19, and infection notices. These are basic necessities that these employees deserve, yet Amazon’s response to the pandemic has been sub-par--even disgusting. But instead of performing these simple measures, Amazon only paid hazard pay for the first month of the pandemic , and it is now gone. Amazon also does not inform workers if someone has had COVID-19 and does not pay for the hospital payments if someone has been infected during work. When Amazon employees speak out about their conditions to their supervisors or seniors, they are most likely to get fired. The ever increasing demand of convenience for the consumer has meant that more workers are forced to work longer and longer hours to keep their jobs. But recently, there has been a union trying to work towards a change to give Amazon workers the benefits and basic humanity that they deserve. Although the path might look long for these unions and the hard-working Amazon employees, their work and efforts will not be undermined.

To learn more about the union for essential workers go here: Unions Fight to Protect All Essential Workers